Young Writers Society

So I am not sure where to post this on the forums, but I will post it here and someone can move it if need be. I just have one simple question, that I cannot find a definite answer too. If I posted my song lyrics for example on to Facebook, do I still own them, or does Facebook now own my song, at least in a way? This also goes for videos of me playing the song etc..

Technically, you have copyright over something as soon as you write it. And it lasts for 100 years after you die... But in some cases (like on Fanfiction from what I've heard) the company claim rights to anything you post. In fanfictions case, I think it's something like 5% of any money you make if you publish your work anywhere else. Although, that's just from word of mouth.

If you check out Facebook's copyright policy, you could probably find something on what happens.

When doing some ICT coursework of mine, I came across this website. I hope that helps if my brief explanation didn't.

Edit: I searched resources and came across this. It could probably also be of some use to you.

One thing to keep in mind: Copyright does not equal first publishing rights.

Copyright you always keep, unless you sign something that gets those rights away. First publishing rights is who actually publishes your work first, and a lot of publishing companies want those. I have no idea what happens in the songwriting business, but this goes into first publishing rights.

And yes, if you put something on facebook it is "published".

The way I see it is that you're putting it on the Internet. No one "owns" the Internet, therefore everyone owns it. But I'm sure Facebook has some rules that counter this.

@OrionX Nobody owns the internet anymore, (but there was a time when it was technically owned), however while nobody owns the entire thing, they do own their servers, anything you put on them you are putting on at your own risk. When your first dump is on the internet on a website, your ownership only extends as far as that site protects.

What Zolen said!

Also, an addition: Sometimes, people use the whole "everyone owns the internet" thing to reject any and all works posted on the internet because the work's been "published" there, regardless of whether or not the site takes your first publishing rights.

Copyright, publishing, and the internet are very grey areas of law, and businesses right now are going on the side of "avoid the internet" or "regulate it ten ways in four directions", so you really have to keep your wits about you when dealing with publishing and putting stuff online.